Happy Halloween

My Old Navy purchase for 2.47!

From Someday We'll Put Down Roots

Have you ever waited until the last minute to buy Halloween candy? I didn't, well, I kinda did. I bought some candy over the weekend, sweedish fish and sour patch kids, but I wanted to have some chocolate in there too. Stupid me waited until today which was a BIG mistake. I went to Walmart thinking they'd have a bunch. Yeah, right. The only "candy" they had left was the candy you don't want to pass out because you know that kids won't eat it. And by candy, I mean popcorn balls. That was all they had left. So, the kids that come to my house will not be getting any chocolate.

From Someday We'll Put Down Roots

Happy Halloween to all!!

Kickboxing kicks butt!

I went to my first kickboxing class today at the gym and it was absolutely incredible! One of the other wives has gone a few times and I told her I would join her today since I've been wanting to take a class for a while. I didn't really know what to expect when I got there. I walked in, showed my ID and the woman handed me the group exercise pass (how they track how many people come) and then asked me if I needed gloves. Gloves? I said yes. Caroline arrived a few minutes after me and we walked back to the room. She informed me that on Thursdays, you actually get to punch and kick a bag. Sweet!

An hour later when it was over, I felt so energized!! It was a great stress and tension reliever to punch the crap out of one of those big bags that stands on the floor. But I have to say, after punching and kicking for an hour, I was WIPED OUT!It was super fun and I can't wait to go again on Tuesday, however, I have an appointment with John at Navy Legal at 9am so I'm hoping it's over by 10 so I can make class by 10:45.

Contemplating My Death?!?

Today, John and I went to Navy Legal to get his power of attorney squared away for while he's gone next month for 2 weeks, and then again for the deployment in December. This way, I will be able to rent a house without John being there to sign and all that good business. In addition to the power of attorney, we made updates to his will too. As we were talking to the attorney, she said that it was a good idea for me to have a will also and that she could do it in addition to updating John's. Now mind you, this is a pretty easy process in the Navy, they pass them out like candy to kids on Halloween. This is what all the guys have to do and keep up to date before they do a deployment.

For the most part, it was pretty cut and dry. But then there was talk of a living will and blah blah blah, and basically asking what you want done in the event of your possible death or in the event of you not being able to make decisions for yourself. I didn't know that when I woke up this morning that I'd be contemplating my death or the events that might possibly surround my possible death. That's some scary shit! At one point when we were talking about the living will, all I could say was, "I don't know." Death alone scares me. Sometimes I'll think about it at night (don't ask me why) and I think, "What if I didn't wake up tomorrow? That's it. No more anything...FOREVER!" That scares the hell out of me. I believe in God and Heaven and all, but just to think about the logistics of death is scary to me.

So, this is how I began my day. Fun times, eh? Thank God it was sunny today :) I'm taking a kickboxing class tomorrow with one of the wives, so I'm looking forward to that. It's getting late though and "The Ultimate Fighter" is one, so I'm going to go upstairs and watch with my husband. Then it's off to bed. I got up way too early to start the day with thoughts and talk of death. Ugh, makes me shiver....

Repeat

I'm starting to feel like my days are being recycled and every day is like the one previous. I'm sure most people feel that way in their own lives, but I guess I feel like it's worse for me in particular since I don't work. To make it worse is that John is still on leave and we haven't really done anything this week. Granted, we've done things as far as figuring out financial situations and planning to come, but we haven't done anything together...like go on a day trips or anything exciting like that. As much as I want to bitch, I know I shouldn't because we have A LOT that is going to be coming onto our plates here in the next few weeks. It's just frustrating because it's harder to see the things that aren't here yet, but that you know are coming....but we really don't know the extent of the things to come. I feel like I'm planning like a crazy person, but my plans are not concrete and won't be for a few more weeks. And my plan...well hell, might not even be my plan when it all comes down the pipe! This is what I hate the most about John being in the Navy. Nothing is known, everything always changes, and it just frustrates me. It's just one frustrating repeat after the next. If I could repeat anything in my life right now, I think I'd go back and repeat my time in Las Vegas!

#1, #2, #3, #4......

Today was another beautiful day here in the Pacific Northwest. Beautiful blue sky, sun shinning, and not a cloud to be seen. These days are far and few between, and needless to say, won't last but maybe 3 more days before the gloomy gray clouds will blanket us until I pack up and leave. Ok, there might be a few sunny days in there, but we don't anticipate it.

John and I spent our day grocery shopping in the early afternoon and then numbering our house picks in order from most liked to least liked. I'm heading to Saratoga on the 9th (late) and will be coming back on the 15th in order to look at houses we're interested in renting. There is one in particular(#1) that we are both in LOVE with (ok, maybe it's just me who's in love with it, but he likes it too). We call it, "The Dream House" and it is every bit of that. I'm not going to tell you all about it as I don't want to jinx it. But we do have a few that rank behind it that we'd be happy with we didn't get it, but they will never be the dream house. So, we'll see what happens with that. Keep your fingers crossed for the dream house though, that it will work out, and that the owners will be willing to negotiate on rent as it is a bit steep (but still within our means).

The Aftermath

Let me begin by first saying that I have the greatest husband in the world. In the aftermath of last night's events, needless to say I was not feeling so hot this morning. My husband laid in bed with me for awhile why I was fighting the urge to throw up asking me if he could do anything for me to make me feel better. He encouraged me to drink some water and take some Excedrin (which eventually made me throw up) and literally applauded me when I took sips. After about an hour, he got up and went downstairs to clean up.

From Someday We'll Put Down Roots

Not only did he vacuum everything downstairs, but he cleaned the kitchen floor...I'm sorry, scrubbed it with Mr. Clean, and put away everything that was left out due to my inablity to care about the odds and ins last night. He has cleaned up everything downstairs so well that it looks like we never even had a party last night. This doesn't happen very often folks, but let me tell you, I am more than thankful and appreciative of him doing this for me. I guess this is his way of thanking me for tending to everything last night while he was out in the garage playing beer pong. Either way, I don't care. He's fantastic for cleaning up for me!!

On to last night's events.....
The party went off without a hitch and I'm hoping that everyone enjoyed themselves as much as we did. The cosutumes were great, we had lots of food and lots of drinks. John set up a beer pong table in the garage which was a big hit for the guys. Caroline and I tried our hand at it and lost, but we went down swinging which is the most important thing. Everyone left by midnight, and John went upstairs and passed out probably an hour before that! My only complaint about the party is just that I wish my house were bigger. Next year we'll have something bigger hopefully :)

I don't really have all that much else to say really. Party was great and today is not so great. It's been a beautiful fall day and I have spent most of it laid up the couch. Just when I think I'm feeling better, my stomach decides otherwise. I think I'll be done drinking for a while...however, I'm pretty sure that it's the shot of tequila that is making me feel this awful. I don't do tequila at all and I decided to do a half shot last night...big mistake!

So, without further chit chat, I'll give you to pictures I know you're dying to see!

From Someday We'll Put Down Roots

From Someday We'll Put Down Roots

From Someday We'll Put Down Roots

From Someday We'll Put Down Roots

From Someday We'll Put Down Roots

From Someday We'll Put Down Roots

From Someday We'll Put Down Roots

From Someday We'll Put Down Roots

From Someday We'll Put Down Roots

From Someday We'll Put Down Roots

From Someday We'll Put Down Roots

From Someday We'll Put Down Roots

From Someday We'll Put Down Roots

Counting Down

In less than 24 hours from now, my house will be filled with munchies, friends dressed in Halloween costumes, food out the wazoo, and drinks to make you drunk enough to forget your worst nightmares. I prepped all the food today so tomorrow morning all I have to do is put everything together, store it in the fridge, and then pop it in the oven and hour before people show up.

My mom sent me some Halloween stuff last week and amongst it was a Halloween cook book. From it, I made some stuff called Monster Munchies. Doesn't it look good?

From Blogger Pictures

I am hoping it will go over well, but what's not to love about white chocolate covered pretzels, golden grahams, marshmallows, and Reece's Pieces?!?!

Amongst the other goodies we'll be providing to our haunting guests will be a devilish potion called Black Widow.

From Blogger Pictures

It consits of 5 different kinds of liquor, Sprite, and Sweet and Sour. My bartender back and Cincinnati introduced me to it, and boy, I tell you what, it will sneak up and punch you in the face. And what's even better, is that it's tastes NOTHING like alcohol!

Tomorrow should prove to be one hell of a time. I will be sure to post a quick pic and update before the party begins!

Pumpkin Masters

From Blogger Pictures

What a day it's been! I worked out, ran some errands with Julie, came home, ate lunch, met Mary at Toys R Us to help her with buying a stroller, went tanning, stopped by Mary's to drop off her stroller and borrowed her crock pot and dinning room chairs, came back home, went to Walmart to buy pumpkins, came home because I couldn't find my Costco card, figured out in was in a purse I change out in my back seat, went to Costco, came home, showered, fixed dinner, carved pumpkins, and now I'm finishing my day with posting this. Are you tired yet? Because I sure the hell am!

I thought I'd be crafty and buy the Pumpkin Masters book to carve my pumpkin this year. John and I usually just carve our own faces, keeping them a secret from one another, and then revealing them when we are finished. Well, I wanted to do the haunted house from the pumpkin book and damn, was that a BIG pain in my ass. John was done in maybe a half hour with his pumpkin. Me? Yeah, like an hour and a half I think? I thought it looked like garbage but after sticking a candle in it, it doesn't look half bad. I tell you what though, I will NOT be doing that again any time soon. I bought 2 pumpkins for myself and IF I have the time to carve the other one before Saturday, it will NOT be a Pumpkin Master carving...that's for sure!

Everything's Spookier with Spiderwebs

Saturday is a few days away and I've been diligently working on prepping the house for our Halloween party. Today's tasks completed so far are clearing counter space in the kitchen, picking up anything that is lying around, putting spiderwebs on pictures, and distributing Halloween accessories where they are needed (or where I think they are needed).
Here are the pictures in the hallway

From Blogger Pictures

The mantle

From Blogger Pictures

One of the spaces above the kitchen cabinets

From Blogger Pictures

Sconces in the dining room

From Blogger Pictures

Now that all that is done, I've got LOTS of cleaning to get done. All 3 bathrooms need to be scrubbed, dining room and living room need to be dusted, vacuum needs to be run...and the list goes on.

Why is it?

I've always wondered, why is it when you wake up way earlier than you're supposed and all you're trying to do is go back to bed, does everything sound 10x louder than it really is? I woke up at 4am when John's alarm went off and I did not fall back asleep until 6:15. I heard him in the shower blowing his nose (which pisses me off more than you'll ever know). Not sure why the man can't wait until he gets out and use a tissue like a human, but he feels the need to blow his nose in his hand while he showers and then rinse it down the drain. It's lazy and disgusting. He used to just put his finger over one nostril and blow, but I chewed him out because I was tired of having to clean buggers when I cleaned the shower. I can't even talk about any more because it makes me THAT mad. I've asked meanly and nicely for him not to do it, and he refuses.

At 6am I decided to watch the Golden Girls, and that's when I finally fell asleep again. I woke up at 7:30 when my alarm went off and did NOT wanna get up. Lying awake for 2 1/2 hours when I should have been sleeping didn't go over well with me. So I laid in bed until 8:15 and then got up.

I need to go to the tanning bed, workout, and start cleaning my house, but all I really want to do is just go back upstairs and take a nap. If I do that, I will not sleep well tonight and that really makes me unhappy. Even though John has duty tonight and I should sleep well anyways, I don't want to take any chances. It supposed to be sunny today, so I should get started on my day.

Betty Crocker

Last night we had a Hail and Farewell to go to at the captain's house to say goodbye to the XO Chuck since he got orders for his shore duty, and to say hello to 5 new officers that have just signed onto the boat. Chuck and his wife (who is my good friend Julie) and their 3 kids will be relocating to Washington D.C. They will be here for a few more weeks, but he is officially done on the boat which as much as I think Julie would've been happy about that, I think she's tired of him being home. But I think that's how all of us military spouses feel at some point in time. We bitch and bitch about our husband's being out to sea, or working long hours, but then when they get a week or two off, after a few days we're ready to send them back. I guess it's just because we spend so much time alone, we're just used to not having to deal with them.

The new officers seem nice, and the ones that are married, their wives seem like they will be a great addition to our wardroom. I'm happy that there is one of them who doesn't have kids yet. I've been looking for a gym buddy to go to aerobics class with me, so I'm hoping that she'll be interested since she doesn't have kids. However, my time left with the boat is limited since we'll be heading to shore duty soon enough.

The party was fun and the spread that the Captain's wife put out was phenomenal! She had a good friend of hers make some party appetizers and it was the most incredible thing I've ever seen. Sumiko (the Captain's wife) is from Japan so she had her friend make sushi, but then she also had her make a lunch meat type sushi that didn't have fish in it for people like me who don't like fish. That was just one of the various things she had for appetizers. She completely outdid herself, but everything was delicious! My contribution to appetizers was a vegetable pizza that was super yummy. For dessert, I made a 2 layer strawberry cake with homemade icing and some brownies. Everyone raved about the cake and I'm guessing they like the brownies too since there were none left. So spending my Friday night and Saturday morning as Betty Crocker paid off.

There was much talk about our upcoming Halloween party which makes me that much more excited it. It seems like just about everyone is coming so we are going to have a very full house. I'm curious to see what some of these guys come up with for costumes, I'm sure it will be quite the sight. One of the guys Span asked if there was any sort of stipulations on what he could dress up as. I told him I didn't care if it was appropriate or inappropriate, just as long as he had a costume. I told the single guys if they showed up in regular clothes telling me they were something, I'd make them put on one of my bathing suits and a sash so they could compete with each other in the Miss Hawaiian Tropic swimsuit competition we could make up. They didn't seem to like the thought of that, so I trust they will come in a costume. With that being said, I've got a lot of things that need to be done this week so I guess I should start today!

Adventures in Babysitting...And Then Some

Yesterday was my the first time I got to babysit for my friend Mary, whose daughter, Sophie, is 3 weeks old. First I have to tell you that she had Sophie dressed in a Halloween onesie with little black pants. She looked so cute! Mary told me that she put it on her just for me since I love Halloween so much. My friends knows I'm a freak and they help indulge me :) We chat for a few minutes and then Mary left to go get her eyebrows waxed. Well, she wasn't even gone for one minute before I heard it. Yes...IT. The dreaded dirty, wet, the, "Oh God, I'm gonna vomit it's going to smell so bad," fart. I looked at Sophie and shook my head. "You just had to do it didn't ya kid?" I said with a laugh. Being the smart person I am, I decided to wait a few minutes because I was sure it wasn't over. And I was right. A few minutes later, I heard it again. So I wait another minute or so and decided we could go for the change.

I picked her up, laid her on the changing pad, got a diaper and some wipes and prepared for the worst. Luckily, it didn't smell as bad as I had anticipated, however, it leaked out of her diaper, onto her onsie, the inside of her pants, and on her leg. Lucky me! So I gave her a Mexican bath, changed her clothes, and then we were fine. Oh, except it's been WAY too long since I've put a diaper on an infant, which resulted in what Mary called, "the low-rider" diaper." Yeah, I didn't quite get it over her little butt, so she had some crack showing. Thank God she didn't poop again before Mary fixed it and laughed at me! So sue me, if that's the worse I can do while babysitting, I think I'm alright :)

Today was pretty uneventful except for the usual things...working out, tanning, running errands. I did, however, get my Halloween costume and I am more than excited about it! I can't tell you what it is yet, you'll have to wait and see. We are throwing a costume party next Saturday which should prove to be a good time.

Oh, and here is my rant for the day. I went to the package store to buy a bottle of wine and some beer for tomorrow's Hail and Farewell party we have to go to. As I'm standing in line, I see the second cashier making a phone call asking about Visa gift cards. No big deal. So when she hangs up the phone, she starts talking to the other cashier who is checking someone out. Keep in mind, at this point there are 3 people behind me. So she finishes whatever she's talking about, and calls me up to ring me out. As she's scanning my 2 items, another guy that works there walks past me and the display at the edge of the counter to go around. As he walks by, he knocks off one of the bottles, it breaks, and spills everywhere. So the woman checking me out looks over, and says, "Oh my gosh, let me go get a mop." That's fine and all, but she walks away, and just leaves me standing there, I've already swiped my card, and it's waiting for her to push the debit on HER side of the counter. So I'm thinking to myself, she's just going to grab the mop and give it to him. NO!! She proceeds to start moping it up while I'm just standing there! And there are still 3 other people waiting in line! I'm usually pretty patient but for God's sake, the man could have mopped it up. It wasn't like there was no one there to mop it up and it was going to be a hazard to customers. After the other cashier finished checking out her customer, she came over and asked if I was waiting for something. I told her I was waiting for her to push the debit key. So she finished my sale, I thanked her, and walked out rolling my eyes at the thought of the cashier that just walked away while checking me out. Fantastic customer service!

It's About Time

I can't even begin to tell you how much time I spent yesterday trying to figure out how to upload pictures to this blog. On top of that, I noticed that all of my paragraphs became one giant paragraph. I felt like I was back in Las Vegas, reading some of my 7th graders papers. Trust me, it's enough to make your head spin. So I did what every good teacher does, I decided that I'd had enough for one day and that I'd screw with it today.

When I logged in today, I messed with some of the settings and TA DA!! I figured out how to post pictures and what I did yesterday that screwed up my paragraphs. I was beyond frustrated so figuring this out makes me feel so much better. I knew I had a college degree for something!

Now, the next thing I need to figure out is how to get Facebook to stop emailing me when people comment on a photo of someone else's that I too had commented about. That's starting to annoy me. In the age of technology, as much as I love it..I hate it!

Choppity chop chop

Yesterday I had an appointment to get a much needed haircut. Back in June before the summer hit, I decided that maybe it was time to go for a shorter, more sophisticated look. So when my hairdresser cut my hair, I loved it! It was the shortest I think I've ever had. Mind you, my definition of "short" is not everyone else's definition, but for me, it was short. I've only had one hair cut since then and it just didn't seem the same since my Ohio hairdresser Martha cut it and not my Washington hairdresser Mandy. My cute cut has since grown out, and just looked mangy to me.

Anyways, I had a date with Mandy yesterday and I told her to choppity chop chop chop my hair. After she cut and styled it, I loved it, but told her I'd like it just a bit shorter, so she happily cut some more. Let me just tell you, THIS is the shortest my hair as EVER been! I can't put it in a ponytail and the back of my hair doesn't touch my neck. YIKES! But man, it's the cutest haircut I've had yet!!

As I was washing my hair in the shower today I kept trying to run my fingers through my hair, only to be shocked at how much hair there isn't there! When I was finished and went to squeeze the water out of my hair, there was nothing there the squeeze. I had to press my hands against my head to get as much water out as I could. I felt like an idiot, but hey, I don't like to drip water all over the floor. It bothers me (and I WISH it bothered John)!

If you happen to read this before I put a picture up...be patient. I'm still learning how this works. I hope you enjoy my new hair as much as I do!

From Blogger Pictures

One Decision After Another

With October passing right before our very eyes, November is quick to knock on our doorstep, and with November hopefully comes orders. What are orders you say? For those of you that are not military lingo savvy, orders are the pieces of paper that the Navy sends to John to tell him where he will be going next. Granted these orders don't just come out of the blue and John does have a say in where they (the Navy) potentially will send him, however they make the final choice for him.

Back in August, we had the big discussion about where we'd like to go next. We looked at the options and both decided that Hawaii sounded like a great idea so John filled his first 3 picks with jobs in Pearl Harbor. We were constantly talking about it and how great it would be. It seemed like a good idea at the time. Well, my sister told me in September that she was going to have a 4th child. All I could think about was how I would probably only see this child 1, maybe 2 times in the 2 years that we'd be living in Hawaii. It bothered me, but my sister and I both have webcam, so it's not like I wouldn't ever really see this kid.

On September 4th I flew to Hawaii for 10 days since John's boat was pulling in there before they came back from their 2 month underway. From the moment my plane touched down and I drove down to the apartment we were staying in in Waikiki I kept saying to myself, "I'm going to live here!" Being able to walk to the beach, seeing it from the balcony, and never needing to wear a jacket, I thought, "This is great!" Well, as the days went on, John and I were discussing his picks for shore duty and whether or not we really wanted to be in Hawaii or not. I was sad to admit it, but I just didn't feel like I could live there. I know you're all thinking, "You're crazy!" But, I had to go with my gut. Every place I've ever been/moved to in my life, I've known in my gut that I was going to live there. Saratoga, Vegas, and here in Seattle, when I visited these places on vacations, something in my body told me that I was going to live there someday...and I just didn't get that feeling in Hawaii. So, John emailed his detailer (the guy who picks his job for shore duty and who sends his orders) and told him we'd like to go back to Saratoga Springs, NY.

Now we are patiently waiting for those papers to arrive, telling us 100% that we'll be heading back East. The job up there is not something people like to volunteer for since it's shift work, so when you do volunteer, you're pretty much guaranteed that job, but I've learned that NOTHING is ever guaranteed, especially in the Navy. Even though I say that, it doesn't stop me from looking every single day for a house to rent. It's one decision after another, and it never seems to get any easier!

Births and Death

In the past 24 hours I've heard of 2 birthds and 1 death. As I mentioned yesterday, my friend Erin gave birth to her 2nd child, a daughter named Alayna (who by the way is beautiful!). Well, I called Amanda during my time waiting for John to come home and she mentioned she was at Niki's house, hanging out with her since she was upset over the death of her grandpa. I have had the pleasure of meeting Niki's grandparents a few times in the past and her grandpa was just the cutest and sweetest old man. I've heard that his health was up and down in the past year, and yesterday, he passed. I'm sad for Niki's and her family's loss. I can only hold them and her grandma in my prayers.

Today, after I got out of the shower, I got a phone call from my friend Bethany who lives in South Carolina. She sounded odd so I asked her what was wrong and much to my surprise, she told me she and her husband just had their baby boy who was scheduled to arrive on the 30th of this month via c-section! It was crazy because I just read up on her blog last night (again, while waiting for John to come home) and I was thinking how lucky she was because she had mentioned how God had gotten everything in order for them as far as getting time off before the baby arrived. So, it looks like God was looking out for her. They named their son Ethan Michael and he will be little brother to his sister Maggie, and their late son Chase. She said that Ethan is still in the NICU with some fluid on his lung, but his weight and everything else looks good, so I am hopeful that all will be well and they will all be able to go home soon, happy and healthy.

They say that these things come in 3s, whether that's 3 births equal 1 death, or 2 births to 1 death...I don't know what the ratios are, or even if it's true. It's a saying and I'm sure it doesn't mean anything. After all, I don't know anyone else who is supposed to give birth in the next few days and I'm hoping that no one else I know dies (I'm not trying to be morbid).

Births and Death......that sums up today.

Jumping On Board

I've known quite a few people to do this and the more people I know that do it, the more it made me want to do it too. So here I am, jumping on board.


I figured it will be a good thing for me to do, not only because I live away from my family and friends, but I think it will help me put things going on in our life into perspective and maybe I'll give my husband a break from time to time :) I figure it will give me a chance to sort of keep in touch with everyone I grew up with, friends I've made along the way, and friends I will make in the future. Being on the West coast has it's advantages and disadvantages as far as keeping in contact with people goes. Phone calls with those that live on the East coast are pretty easy for me to keep up with since their evenings are my afternoons for the most part. The friends I have up here, well, they all are housewives as well, and all of them are mothers, so we can talk during the day or during nap times. My Vegas friends, I can talk to them before John gets home from work or once he goes to bed. That will be a little tougher if we ever move back East. So, all around, I am assuming that this blog post will be good thing.


I'm going to make a conscious effort to post to this daily. Whether it be an all out account of the daily happenings or just something good, bad, or interesting that I've come across in my day, or John's day for that fact, but he'd actually have to talk about his day for me to comment on that!


Speaking of John, I am waiting on him to come home. Since he's the super smart guy that he is, he gets to be the ENG this week while the current ENG goes on leave. What that means to me? Well hell, I don't really know. I think it means longer hours at work, phone calls at night when we're trying to sleep, and a crabby husband when he gets home. Whether or not that will be the case is beyond me. I'll tell you next week. As thankful as I am that John is as smart as he is, it has it's downfalls too. Poor me right?! I know none of you are giving me any sympathy, and I'm ok with that :)

Congratulations to my friend Erin Darringer today for giving birth to her 2nd baby! A baby girl named Alayna Jo. I can't wait to see pictures of her!

Other than that, I have nothing else to report on...for now at least :)

Until tomorrow......